


the tension's like a fire

by reject_mikeyy



Category: All Time Low
Genre: Alternate Universe - Non-Famous, Alternate Universe - Teenagers, Angst, First Kiss, Friends to Lovers, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, It's Just Really Really Domestic Okay, M/M, No Smut, Rian and Zack are mentioned like once, Sad with a Happy Ending, Set in 2004, Sleepovers, Sleepy Cuddles, This Is Becoming a Reoccurring Theme, i guess
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-25
Updated: 2014-10-25
Packaged: 2018-02-22 12:39:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,485
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2508146
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/reject_mikeyy/pseuds/reject_mikeyy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Where are you?” He asked quickly, opening his bedroom door quietly, and lowering his voice as he walked down the hallway. “I’m coming to get you.” Jack breathed for a second, and then spoke.</p><p>“Um, I’m at Thames. Thames and South Broadway.” He said, voice shaking. Alex nodded, even though he knew Jack couldn’t see him.</p><p>“Okay, stay on the call with me. I want you to sing until I get there, I’m on my way.”</p><p>-----</p><p>Or: the one where jack's parents get into a fight and he doesn't know what to do and calls alex. and lots of fluffy caring stuff ensues.</p>
            </blockquote>





	the tension's like a fire

**Author's Note:**

> inspired by the picture of jack posing at the corner of thames st and south broadway in baltimore. picture linked below. based on 'six feet under the stars' by all time low. title also from the same song. 
> 
> disclaimer: i do not own all time low. obviously. im a fifteen year old girl. do you think i can buy a band? no. this is a work of fiction. none of this actually happened (to my knowledge)
> 
> feedback appreciated xx

Inspired by this picture: http://media-cache-ec0.pinimg.com/236x/85/c2/ca/85c2caf8673be0880850a114df842ec4.jpg

*2004*

Alex is pulled from his sleep like a vacuum being pulled from a swimming pool floor. Okay, maybe that wasn’t the best analogy. Like a string of anal beads being pulled from a...well, you get the point. But what interrupted his slumber was neither pool vacuums nor anal beads. It was a vibration. Alex’s cell phone wasn’t new, per say, but it did have vibration capability. Most would consider that cool, having a vibrating phone, but when you had friends like Rian, Zack, and Jack (especially Jack) who would call at 3 in the morning asking if your refrigerator was running, you aren’t very lucky at all.

He groaned and kicked his legs a bit, pouting at being woken up. The only downside of sleeping on his stomach was that his phone would weasel it’s way under him during the night. He reached under him to grab his still-vibrating phone and flip it open. 

“What?” He grumbled into the receiver. Jack’s voice came from the other end, wet with tears.

“I-I don’t know- I can’t- I don’t know where to- Alex what do I do?” He spluttered, in between sobs. Alex sat up immediately. That didn’t sound like his happy-go-lucky best friend.

“Woah, Jack, slow down. What happened? Where are you?” He asked, throwing his legs over the side of the bed and putting a pair of sweatpants on. He pulled on shoes with his free hand as he listened to Jack explain.

“I- They were- They were fighting, Al. I wasn’t meant to hear it. I was going into Joe’s room, you know, he stays up reading really late, and I could hear them from upstairs. I didn’t even catch what they were saying. I just heard the noise. They were throwing things and yelling.” He paused. “I’m scared, Alex. I- I don’t know what to do.” He finished, sighing. Alex could hear him shuffling around, and he rested his phone between his shoulder and cheek so he could put on a sweatshirt. 

“Where are you?” He asked quickly, opening his bedroom door quietly, and lowering his voice as he walked down the hallway. “I’m coming to get you.” Jack breathed for a second, and then spoke.

“Um, I’m at Thames. Thames and South Broadway.” He said, voice shaking. Alex nodded, even though he knew Jack couldn’t see him.

“Okay, stay on the call with me. I want you to sing until I get there, I’m on my way.” Alex said, and pulled his shoulder up to his chin again, grabbing his skateboard and unlocking the garage door so that he and Jack could get back in later. He made sure to grab his wallet off of the counter, knowing that Jack liked McDonalds shakes when he was sad, as bad as they were for you. He closed the door behind him lightly, and kicked off, heading right towards Thames. Jack kept singing, just so Alex would know he was still there. Alex was the only one who had ever heard Jack sing. Jack was convinced that he couldn’t sing for crap, but Alex loved the way the boy sounded so passionate about what he was singing whenever he did open his lungs to the younger boy. 

“I’m on a street corner, and I’m singing. I don’t know what to sing about but I’m singing.” Jack sang, and Alex almost chuckled, he would have if the situation had been different. 

“SIng one of our songs.” He suggested, and Jack launched into a quiet rendition of Hit The Lights.

“I'm sitting here wishing for something that's missing. I'm waiting for you to tell me that time keeps on passing,” He said, and Alex interrupted him to tell him just that.

“Time keeps on passing,” He sang behind Jack’s vocals. He saw a figure on a street corner and skated towards it as Jack kept singing. He hopped off of his board and walked up to Jack from behind, following with the next words.

“So don't you go I've got you where I want you and I'm never letting go.” He finished, and Jack turned around, hanging up the phone. He wiped his eyes and Alex softened, walking closer to him. He put his arm around the tall boy as best as he could, and led his best friend to McDonalds, no questions asked. 

Twenty minutes later, when they were sat in the corner booth, just about too close to be considered platonic by the casual bypasser, Alex spoke up again.

“What happened, Jacky?” Alex asked. Jack closed his eyes. He took another sip of his shake (Alex always gets strawberry and Jack always gets chocolate and they mix them,) and opened his mouth. 

“I...I don’t really want to talk about it. Do we have to talk about it?” He asked his best friend, and Alex nodded, understanding he just wanted to be distracted from his life at home. 

“I’m gonna need to check you when we get home though.” Alex said, and Jack looked at him curiously.

“Home? Where home?” Jack asked.

“My house. You’re staying over, I can’t let you go back there tonight.” Alex responded, protective of his friend. 

“You have to check?” Jack asked nervously. Alex nodded.

“Have to make sure you’ve stopped. Or you’re at least keeping them clean. You’ve got to stop though.” 

The two walked in silence to Alex’s house, and as they made their way up the stairs, Alex caught the eyes of his mother, awoken from the noise they made when they entered. She took in Jack’s state and nodded solemnly at Alex, silently bidding him goodnight.

Alex worked as if on autopilot. He stripped Jack of his sweater and jeans and had Jack present his wrists and thighs to the younger boy. He didn’t want to look at first, for fear that it would be bad. He turned to the bathroom and left Jack standing in the room by himself, grabbing a brown bottle of hydrogen peroxide and Neosporin, along with some bandages and cotton balls. He placed the items on his bed, still not looking at Jack. He turned finally, putting some peroxide on a cotton ball, dreading it, but almost knowing for certain that he’d need it. 

Jack’s wrists were clear. Pasty and scarred, but no new ridges interrupted the steady lines of faded pink. Alex sat Jack down and checked his thighs next. There were a few cuts that looked like they were from at least a week ago, but Alex sanitized them and put bandages on them just in case. His hips were clear, but when Alex went to lift the waistband of Jack’s underwear, to make sure he hadn’t gotten better at hiding them, Jack hissed and flinched. Alex looked up at the tall boy sadly from his place kneeling before him, and placed his hand more firmly on the boy’s waistband, dragging it down, careful not to irritate the skin he knew would be red and angry. 

He sighed, seeing exactly what he expected. Jack had been cutting again, and not telling him about it. Jack had always had a rough time expressing his sadness in the right ways, so he chose to destroy his body, in hopes that his sadness would escape through the slits in his skin, like poking holes in a chicken breast or a cupcake to let heat escape. Alex removed Jack’s boxers entirely, not intending to initiate anything sexual, but out of genuine concern for his best friend. 

There were red lines along the junctures where his legs met his hips, and several along the jutting bones of his hips. Make no mistake, Jack had no problems with eating, that wasn’t where he was stumbling. He could down an entire large pizza by himself if he wanted to, but he just grew so fast and his body melted off the calories as he put them in his mouth. Alex was still worried, however, because if a boy this skinny is losing blood on a regular basis, that couldn’t be good for him. Of course, it isn’t good for anyone, but especially not for a boy who is 5’10” and 120 pounds. He worries for Jack. He really does. He sighs, finishing up cleaning the new cuts, that had to have been done today, or maybe yesterday. 

He guides Jack to lay down on his twin bed, and looks down at him. This is always Jack’s favorite part. Alex starts from head to toe and kisses every one of Jack’s scars, as platonically as possible. It always relaxes Jack, makes him feel like yeah, he does this bad thing, and yeah, Alex is disappointed, but he still loves him, and still comforts him. 

Alex starts with his wrists, grabbing the left, and then the right. Jack starts to hold his breath when Alex starts on his thighs, the touch making his spine tingle and goosebumps form all over him. If he couldn’t breathe when Alex was kissing his thighs, small, chaste kisses, he certainly won’t be breathing any time soon now that he’s started on his hips. He places two kisses to each new cut, trying to give extra love to spots that need it most. 

Jack doesn’t want to breathe, he’s worried he’ll ruin the moment. Alex places one last, lingering kiss on his right hip and shimmies up to lay next to him. Jack really shouldn’t have used the word shimmy in his mind just then. It’s probably the most unsensual word ever. And Alex is anything but unsensual. Even when he does shimmy up the bed, it looks like the movement of a god. He makes it look good.

Alex rolls off of the bed, putting the medical supplies on the floor and beginning the process of getting ready for bed. He decided not to brush his teeth, to avoid having to walk all the way to the bathroom. He watched Jack as he shed his shoes and sweatpants and saw Jack’s eyes follow his hands as he removed his shirt. He resumed his place next to the older boy after shutting the light off, and was about to close his eyes, when Jack rolled over to face him.

“Love you.” He said, and it made Alex smile.

“Love you too, man.” He threw in a ‘man’ on the end, because he wasn’t sure if the No-Homo laws had a subsection for situations after you’d just cleaned your best friend’s self-harm scars and then proceeded to sleep next to him almost naked. Jack interrupted Alex’s train of thought and sent it crashing.

“No, I love you, you idiot.” He said, and then was quiet for a minute. Jack counted the seconds before Alex said anything.

“Yeah. Yeah, okay. I love you too.” He said, nodding to himself. Said nodding became a trainwreck when Jack leaned his head in closer to Alex, only to bump foreheads with the English-born boy. 

“Ow.” Alex said.

“Well, that’s what you get for nodding when I’m trying to kiss you, nerd.” Jack said, and Alex looked up, sort of shocked. He knew the weight of what they just said to each other, but he didn’t realize that Jack actually meant it like he had. However unenthusiastic he had been when he’d said it. He stared into Jack’s eyes, and didn’t move, and Jack took that as a sign to try again. He tentatively brushed his lips against Alex’s, resting one hand on the back of his neck to pull him in. He leaned back to gauge Alex’s reaction, but before he could see much, Alex had pulled him in again. They kissed open-mouthed and fast, teeth clacking together but they couldn’t care less about dental precautions at the moment. They were too absorbed in drinking each other in, mapping out the insides of each other’s mouths with swirls and brushes and tangles and bites. They eventually pulled off for air, because harsh breathing through noses didn’t exactly add very much to the mood. Alex held onto Jack’s bottom lip with his teeth as the darker-haired boy slowly pulled back from the kiss. They laid in each other’s arms, kissing sometimes, talking sometimes, being silent sometimes, singing sometimes. They fell asleep like that, blankets haphazardly thrown over their bottom halves, Jack’s arms around Alex, Alex’s arms crunched up between their chests, his ear on Jack’s heartbeat. And they couldn’t have been more comfortable.

When Alex awoke in the morning alone, he wondered if any of that actually happened. It all seemed too real to happen. He walked into the kitchen to see Jack standing at the stove, and his parents at the counter. Jack was wearing a sweatshirt half unzipped, and a pair of Alex’s pajama pants. Speaking of Alex, he had thrown on Jack’s sweater from the night before, and was still wearing his underwear. Jack didn’t mention anything at breakfast, which could have been because his parents were right there, or it could have been because nothing actually happened and he was just dreaming all of this up. His parents kept looking at each other, though, with a look on their faces that just screamed “We know something you don’t know we know.” That look was too complicated to come out so early.

Alex had just about given up hope when he walked into the bathroom to wash the syrup off of his face. He lifted his arm to get the towel, and the neckline of the sweater, Jack’s sweater, shifted, revealing a big purple mark on the flat of his collarbone. He blushed harshly, even though he was the only one in the room, and quickly covered the mark back up with the sweater.

He made his way back to his room, pressing on the bruise subconsciously, wondering if he could still feel it being made. Jack was sitting on his bed in silence, thinking, when he came back into the room. He looked at Alex pressing on the mark he had left, and smirked a little. 

“And there’s plenty more where that one came from. Your mom said I could stay as long as I like.” Jack said, leaning back and threading his fingers together behind his head. 

“Damn her.” Alex said, making his way back to Jack’s side. Jack sang to him again, just something he’d made up in a flash, as he rubbed Alex’s arm. 

“I'll take you out though I'm hardly worth your time. In the cold you look so fierce, but I'm warm enough. Because the tension's like a fire,” He sang, and Alex sat up immediately.

“That was really good. I have to write that down.” He fluttered around the room picking up a pad and pen, writing down Jack’s words, and Jack couldn’t help but look on fondly. He loved this idiot.


End file.
